Coast Guard sees old bridge as dangerous relic

The Coast Guard won't let the old Mississippi River bridge stand beyond next spring no matter how many people want to see it turned into a scenic, pedestrian crossing, officials say.

It is scheduled to be razed at an estimated cost of $3.8 million. No contract has been let and no firm date has been set for the demolition, according to the Missouri Department of Transportation.

Construction of the $100 million Bill Emerson Memorial Bridge, slated for completion this year, has sparked public discussion about the future of the old bridge at Cape Girardeau. Some residents want to see the old bridge, built in 1928, turned into a hiking and biking trail over the river like the old Chain of Rocks Bridge in St. Louis County.

But Missouri Department of Transportation and city officials say that won't happen here. The demolition of the 75-year-old span was a condition of securing a Coast Guard permit to build the new span, said Scott Meyer, MoDOT district engineer.

"We have to take the bridge down, including all the concrete piers, in order to comply," Meyer said.

The Coast Guard permit requires the old bridge to be removed within 90 days after the new span is opened. If the new bridge opens in December, the old span would have to be removed by the end of March.

Barge traffic would have difficulty navigating past Cape Girardeau if it had to travel between piers from two bridges only a short distance apart, Meyer said. Tearing down the old bridge would reduce the number of "obstacles" in the channel, he said.

Mayor Jay Knudtson said he's received several telephone calls from residents who want the bridge saved.

"I have received no less than six pictures of bridges that exist in other parts of the country," he said.

Those photographs show bridges that have been preserved as parks or pedestrian walkways.

The mayor said the public needs to understand it's not the city's decision.

The final say lies more with the Coast Guard.

Part of Coast Guard officer Roger Wiebusch's job includes issuing permits for new bridges and making sure old ones that are no longer needed are torn down.

The Coast Guard routinely requires abandoned bridges be torn down.

"We don't want bridges to become just basically rusting hulks sitting out there," Wiebusch said.

The old Cape Girardeau bridge can't be compared to the Chain of Rocks Bridge, he said. That's because the St. Louis County bridge crosses a back channel of the river, not the navigable part of the river, he said.

The Chain of Rocks span continued to carry a pipeline even after the bridge was closed to vehicular traffic, a key reason why it wasn't torn down, Wiebusch said.

In 1999, 32 years after it was closed to cars and trucks, the St. Louis area bridge reopened as the Route 66 Bikeway.

Meyer said barge traffic safety isn't the only problem with keeping the old Cape Girardeau bridge.

It would be costly to maintain the old metal and concrete span, he said. If left standing, the old bridge would have to be repainted soon. Meyer said that work could cost $6 million to $8 million because of environmental requirements associated with removing old paint over a waterway.

Meyer said it wouldn't be a wise use of tax dollars to maintain the old bridge once the new span opens. It will be blown up, sending tons of steel and concrete crashing into the muddy river. The debris then will be hauled out of the river, MoDOT officials said.

The river will be closed to traffic for 24 hours while the demolition work is done, the Coast Guard said.

When the new bridge opens, the old span will be barricaded on the Illinois and Missouri sides, Meyer said. A concrete archway at the Missouri entrance to the bridge may be preserved, but Knudtson said city officials haven't decided whether the decorative, concrete arch will be kept as a scenic lookout.

The city doesn't have any money to construct a lookout, and there are liability issues in having such a structure, the mayor said.

Doug Leslie, interim city manager, said city officials want a decorative medallion on the arch and any bridge signs or plaques preserved. Where they would be displayed hasn't been determined, he said.

mbliss@semissourian.com

335-6611, extension 123